


The Beautiful Game

by MrProphet



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-04-22
Packaged: 2018-10-22 12:48:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10697346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrProphet/pseuds/MrProphet





	The Beautiful Game

The wedding was going swimmingly, the two families mingling cheerfully enough, until someone asked Ginny, over the wedding breakfast, what she did. An innocent enough question and Hermione’s Auntie Liz certainly did not expect the answer she got.

“They hit the balls  _at_  you?” she asked

Ginny nodded. “Only the bludgers, and of course, they come after you of their own accord,” she noted.

Auntie Liz grew slightly pale. “Of their own accord?”

“They’re enchanted with a life of their own and a limited set of priorities; basically the desire to clout anyone on a broomstick. That’s why the beaters have to keep them away from the other players, otherwise you’d have the whole team in hospital within ten minutes of the whistle,” Ginny laughed.

“Are… are you often hurt?” Auntie Liz asked.

Ginny’s face creased in contemplation. “Ah… Three fractures in my legs, two in my right arm and one in my left.” 

Auntie Liz pushed away her plate. She was now looking slightly bilious. “And… when was this?” she asked, fascinated in spite of herself. “You must have been very young. Thank God you haven’t been hurt more recently.”

“This was all in the match last week,” Ginny replied. “Actually it was just the break in my left arm that was caused by a bludger,” she added. “I was carrying the quaffle in my right hand, so I was holding on with the left. When that got broken I fell off and I broke both legs and the right arm on landing. I also lost three teeth and cracked six ribs,” she noted brightly.

“Magical doctors,” Harry noted. “They can work wonders.”

Auntie Liz gaped. Harry suspected that when her brother had explained that her niece was a witch, Liz had envisaged a few pendants, a black dress and a sudden conversion to vegetarianism.

“You’d never believe how many bones Harry broke while he was playing in the school team,” Ginny went on.

“You play this game at school?” Auntie Liz was horrified.

“Oh yes, and Harry was unluckier than most.”

“I was cursed,” Harry insisted. “No, really,” he assured Auntie Liz. “People kept trying to kill me. With curses. Except that year when I was almost eaten by a dragon.”

Ginny began to laugh uncontrollably. “And you should… you should have seen his arm when… when Gilderoy Lockhart made all the… made all the bones… the bones in… in… in his arm  _disappear!_ ” She broke off into guffaws.

“Breathe, Ginny,” Harry suggested, rubbing her back fondly. “Try drinking a glass of water.”

Ginny struggled to control herself and then burst out laughing again. “…just wobbling about and…”

“Or just chew on a napkin or something,” Harry went on in a tight voice, rubbing her back slightly  _less_  fondly. “Unless you want us to start talking about  _wegbets_.”

Ginny sobered up at once, giving forth only a handful of hiccups.

“And, um…” In a desperate attempt to change the subject, Auntie Liz turned to Harry. “What do  _you_  do, Mr Potter?”


End file.
